What does an old Italian record actually say? Below is a real birth record from 1893, from the Comune of Girgenti (today Agrigento, Sicily). At first glance it is a wall of ornate handwriting and archaic formulas. Read the right way, every line gives up a fact. Here is how it works, term by term.
The record, line by line
- Record number. Every act carries a running number for the year — here, No. 35. It is how the record is cited and found again.
- When it was registered. The opening formula gives the date the act was drawn up: the year (“milleottocento novantatre” — 1893), the day (the 9th) and the month (April), and even the exact time it was recorded in the town hall (8.40 in the morning).
- The civil official. The name and role of the registrar — the Secretary acting for the Mayor as Officer of Civil Status — and the Comune where the act was made: Girgenti.
- Who presented the child. Usually the father. Here, Michele Cipriano, aged 37, a contadino (farmer), resident in Girgenti. His age and occupation are stated because they matter for identity.
- When and where the child was born. The declaration gives the hour (4.20 in the afternoon), the day (the 8th of the same month), and the exact place — Contrada Roseto, at house number 99.
- The mother. Named as the declarant’s lawful wife, living with him, also a contadina. The mother’s own name is the key that opens the previous generation.
- The child. The sex (female) and the given name assigned in the act: Maria Rosaria.
- The witnesses. Two witnesses named at the foot of the act — often neighbours or relatives, and sometimes a clue in their own right.
Why the reading matters
A single birth act, read properly, does not just confirm a date. It names the parents, fixes the exact house and hamlet, gives ages and occupations, and points the way to the marriage and to the generation before. The difficulty is in the hand, the abbreviations and the fixed legal formulas — which is exactly what a transcription resolves: turning the original into something you can read, and actually use, for your family history or your citizenship file.